Since the dawn of time, the Ardèche has hidden gems in its meanders. The Pont d’Arc, a 54 meter high stone arch, carved out by the river, attracts thousands of tourists every year, particularly canoe enthusiasts.
It was very close to there that one Sunday, December 18, 1994, three speleologists, in their free time, decided to explore a hole in the mountain. They had no idea that they were going to uncover a treasure that would revolutionize all knowledge of cave art.
Jean-Marie Chauvet (keeper of the decorated caves of Ardèche), Éliette Brunel (winemaker in Saint-Remèze) and Christian Hillaire (EDF agent in Pierrelatte), the three inventors [c’est le terme exact] of the Chauvet cave, are passionate about caving. They have been interested in this area for several months.
The three friends have already spotted interesting prehistoric traces in small cavities, engravings, drawings, and think that there is perhaps even better elsewhere. They decide to explore the cliffs of the Cirque d’Estre, located about 3 kilometers as the crow flies from Pont d’Arc. They access it via a ledge, a sort of scar cut into the rock which already existed in prehistoric times.
After three quarters of an hour of climbing, they spotted what is called a blowhole. A narrow passage, blocked by a scree, but which allows a current of air to pass through, a sign that there could be a passage at the rear. Access is difficult, but Jean-Marie Chauvet insists on continuing and trying to clear the entrance.
The smallest, Éliette, slips first, practically on her stomach, into the conduit. Her two accomplices, who remained behind, cleared the stones and debris which she evacuated. They crawl for several meters in the small tube. After more than 3 hours of laborious progress, Éliette, equipped with a headlamp, sees a large void opening up beneath her feet. She sees the ground, about ten meters below.
Excited by this discovery, the three friends go back to get a caving ladder in their vehicle and carefully descend into the cavity. They then discover, the faint glow of their lamps, a cave worthy of that of Ali Baba. White, orange, pink concretions, covered with calcite crystals, sparkle in the shadows, like diamonds, when the light of the lamps touches them. An underground palace, perfectly preserved thanks to the collapse of part of the cliff, they will understand much later.
Éliette whispers: “They came”. On a wall, she has just seen red lines and understands that humans have frequented this place. At what time? Impossible to guess at this stage. How could the trio have imagined that they had just discovered humanity’s oldest decorated cave, decorated by Paleolithic men and women? The trio advances and enters the cave of wonders. On the walls, human hands dabbed in ocher seem to welcome them.
Thanks to the collapse of part of the limestone cliff which sealed the large entrance porch used by prehistoric men and animals, Chauvet remained hidden for 21,500 years. It has never been open to the public, unlike the Lascaux cave, in Dordogne. Only a privileged few have the chance to enter it each year, particularly to study it when the carbon dioxide level is not too high.
Jean Clottes will be the first prehistorian, specialist in cave art, to assess the Chauvet cave. Scientific studies undertaken from 1998 by an interdisciplinary team made it possible to date it more precisely: the oldest drawings date back to -38,000 years ago, almost twice as long as the cave paintings found in the Lascaux cave which date back to – 20,000 years. We were then in the ice age. The cavity extends into the cliff about 200 meters long. Its total surface area is around 8,500 m2, the equivalent of three football fields. Some rooms are very large (18 meters high for the Hillaire room, 40 meters wide by 50 meters long and more than 10 meters high ceiling for the Bauges room), while in other places, it is impossible to stand up.
On the walls of Chauvet run more than 400 species of animals, some of which, like the panther and the owl, are unique in the history of cave art. During the recent Paleolithic (period from -40,000 to -12,000 years), the cavity was frequented by many animals, but the cave bear was its main occupant.
This now extinct species was of impressive size: up to three meters high for males who weighed between 400 and 500 kg. They came to sleep in the cave. We have identified nearly 300 wallows, a type of bear’s nest, from 80 cm to 1.5 meters in diameter from the first rooms and to the bottom of the cavern.
The walls bear multiple traces of scratches and friction proving that they occupied the place early, between -42,000 and -35,000 years ago. Experts believe it was a way for the animal to deposit an odor to make it easier to move around in the dark. Bear cub footprints also show that the cave was a nursery where bears came to give birth.
According to Carole Fritz, director of the scientific research team, 4,000 bear bones have been unearthed in thirty years, which represents around 190 individuals. One of the most impressive rooms in the cave has been named the Skull Room. We see a bear skull ostentatiously placed on a rock. Scholars are trying to understand this gesture and its meaning, explains Carole Fritz. “It is believed that these are myths that structure relationships between humans“, she says.
Thirty years ago, the three inventors of the Chauvet cave not only discovered a very old and perfectly preserved cavity. They brought about a revolution in knowledge about cave art by uncovering a “prehistoric Sistine chapel”. All those who have the chance to admire him “for real” say that the expression is not usurped and confide their emotion.
In the first part of the cave, there are several drawings made with palm prints. Then come a hyena, a panther, a bear’s head. When arrives the fresco of the horses which stretches about 7 meters wide, we realize to what extent the The men and women who painted this treasure were inspired artists. They took care to use the reliefs of the walls to give volume and dynamism to their compositions. Using charcoal (scientists found remains of wood fires at the foot of certain walls), by the light of their torches, they recreated a large herd. You could swear you could hear the cavalcade.
These women and men, A wise man like us, had already mastered complex techniques such as stumping, stencil or even perspective. They used natural pigments like charcoal, red ocher and manganese. The last room, at the very bottom of the Chauvet cave, undoubtedly houses their masterpiece: the lion panel. The few photos of this monumental fresco broadcast by the media the day after the discovery will go around the world.
It was Jacques Toubon, then Minister of Culture, who revealed the extraordinary news during a press conference on January 18, 1995. In the years that followed, there would be several complex, sometimes incredible, legal proceedings between the three inventors of the cave, the State, the families who own the land surrounding the cave, the photography agencies who sold the images, etc.
In 2014, twenty years after its discovery, the site was classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. A year later, on April 10, 2015, President François Hollande inaugurated his replica, the largest reproduction of a decorated cave in the world, on the heights of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc. The project lasted almost four years for a budget of 55 million euros, financed by the State, the Department and the Region. The goal is to open Chauvet to all those who will never enter the real cave.
This facsimile will first be called “Caverne du Pont d’Arc” then, after yet another legal battle, Chauvet 2 Ardèche. It is not a perfect copy, the cave being immense, but a selection of selected pieces of the real cave, in particular its most beautiful decorated panels made in particular by the workshops of Alain Dalis in Dordogne and by the prehistoric painter Gilles Tosello.
To celebrate thirty years of the discovery, Wednesday December 18, the Chauvet 2 Ardèche cave is planning “an exceptional free open day”. Registered visitors will be able to visit the replica “independently” from 2:30 p.m. and above all, meet, in the conference center, at 4 and 5 p.m., two of the three inventors of the cave: Jean-Marie Chauvet and Éliette Brunel (Christian Hillaire unable to be present).
After the screening of a 33-minute film called The Discoverythey will sign books, sign autographs and tell, again and again, the story of this incredible day that forever changed the course of their lives.
